Sketch Pencils

The very first pencils were made of lead and used by artists in the 14th century to produce beautiful, pale gray drawings. A mineral called plumbago (for it's lead-like qualities) was discovered in Cumbria in 1564, changing the course of history for the pencil. The Queen mined the ore and the English Guild of Pencilmakers began carving wooden cases for the thin square sticks. In the late 1700's, plumbago was discovered to be a form of carbon rather lead, and as a result, the ore was renamed 'graphite', from the Greek word 'to write'. In 1795, a young German inventor discovered that kiln-firing a mixture of graphite powder and clay enabled him to produce varying degrees of hardness, depending on the graphite concentration in the mixture. This process is still used today to produce the various writing medium in pencils. Browse through our selection of sketch pencils and see if the artist in you is inspired!